LGBTI equality and human rights in Europe and Central Asia

Call for proposals: data-collection of LGBTI discrimination in the field of employment

ILGA-Europe announces the XIV call for proposals within its Documentation and Advocacy fund. This call will specifically focus on data-collection of discriminatory practices in the field of employment. The fund is supported by the government of the Netherlands and an anonymous donor.

Deadline for applications: 4 May 2015, 18.00 CET.

The general goals of the Documentation and Advocacy Fund are

  • to work towards LGBTI equality by gathering evidence of human rights violations and supporting evidence-based advocacy throughout Europe;
  • to promote documentation of cases of discrimination, hate crimes and other human rights violations against LGBTI people according to the international human rights documentation standards;
  • to build capacity of LGBTI organisations in Europe to monitor and document human rights violations on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression;
  • to enable the use of well-documented information for advocacy purposes at the national level;
  • to develop methodology and tools that can be replicated in other European countries for collection of reliable information on human rights violations.

Background information on LGBTI issues in the area of employment

In the area of employment, legislation prohibiting discrimination exists in many countries across Europe. In the EU for example all EU member states have by now transposed the “General framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation” and the Gender Recast directive into national legislation. But despite employment being an area in which laws are protecting individuals from discrimination quite widely, only within the EU, 20% of LGBT people reported feeling discriminated against while looking for work, or at work, in the year preceding the FRA’s LGBT Survey. Transposition of the directive was slow and not always all encompassing regarding sexual orientation and gender identity. Information on the state of implementation of the EU directive as well as existing or missing supportive measure to ensure non-discrimination in the labour market EU-wide is crucial for the informed advocacy work on employment of ILGA-Europe.

Beyond the borders of the EU, some countries have introduced or are in the process of introducing non-discrimination legislation in employment, covering the grounds of sexual orientation and in some places also gender identity (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland). See the Rainbow Europe map and index for more information. These efforts are supported by the EU Enlargement Policy and European Neighbourhood Policy. The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers recommendation as well urges countries to “provide effective protection against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity in employment and occupation in the public as well as in the private sector.”

ILGA-Europe wants to support these processes, providing evidence-based arguments for the need for such legislation, but also seeing how legislation needs to be best shaped to change the day to day reality of LGBTI people in the labour market. Both in the EU and beyond, discrimination of trans and intersex people in access to and in the labour market is exponentially higher than discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation. According to the survey of the FRA, one third of trans job seekers face discrimination face discrimination, while another third feel discriminated in their workplace. The rate of trans people in paid employment reaches only 51%, compared to 68% of the general population. For intersex people, data is still missing. The project therefore welcomes specific focuses on the discrimination face by trans and intersex people in access to and in the labour market.

The focus on dealing with discrimination in the labour market should be both, on the violation of people's fundamental rights and their well-being, as well as on their contribution to the economy and the interest of companied in diversity management.

The specific goal of this call

is to allocate grants to document existing discrimination in access to and in employment for LGBTI people in selected countries across Europe. More specifically, selected projects should aim to:

  • Allow for a better analysis of the importance of anti-discrimination legislation in employment, but also the effectiveness of accompanying measures that help reduce day to day discriminatory actions in the workplace
  • Explore the specific barriers faced by trans and/or intersex persons, LGBTI people from a minority ethnic background, older LGBTI people, LGBTI people with disabilities, in the employment field and identifying needs in this area (e.g. data collection to explore specific barriers faced by LGBTI persons or their specific needs in employment field based on structured interviews with them)
  • Analyse LGBTI inclusive or/and discriminatory policies adopted and implemented by employers / state institutions and what impact they have in different countries (e.g. analysis of relevant existing policies and comparisons with other regions/countries, interviews with policy makers in charge of employment policies contents, exploring the level of ‘heteronormativity’ in employment policies)
  • Collect and analyse data on different employers’ (state, business, private) competence and attitudes in the field of LGBTI issues (quantitative surveys to be filled to self-assess their level of knowledge & know-how and surveys to assess awareness and attitudes of relevant personnel in different institutions)
  • Encourage cross-border projects, to facilitate the sharing of a methodology for documenting LGBTI discrimination in employment and allowing exchange of good practices and cooperation on developing non-discrimination legislation and measures.

Applicants could address one or more of the suggested topics. ILGA-Europe however recommends limiting the scope of research to areas that are clearly connected.

ILGA-Europe intends to award 8 grants of amount from 6,000€ to 7,500 € each. Funding amounts will be determined on the basis of the scope of the project proposal, taking into consideration factors such as geographical scope, existence of co-funding, capacity to absorb funding and costs of living in the concerned country.

 

Methodology

  • This call allows selected applicants to develop data collection skills in the area of employment. To this end, applicants are encouraged to use methodologies already applied in different researches and resources available here
  • ILGA-Europe’s staff remains available to facilitate information exchange on methodological tools used by its successful applicants. Many of these tools can be found on the ILGA-Europe website
  • Applications should define vocabulary clearly and use it consistently throughout their proposal and project. The ILGA-Europe glossary may be a good starting point.
  • Applications must clearly identify the indicators they are studying and how they will gather, classify and measure the information they hope to collect.
  • Applicants are encouraged to team up to increase their know-how through peer-learning, to provide comparative data (between different countries) or to share different perspectives (between different sectors, i.e. education and human rights)

 

 

Eligibility criteria

Applications from the LGBTI organisations from European region (countries-members of the Council of Europe) are eligible ONLY. List of the eligible countries can be found here .

Under this call ILGA-Europe will support documentation methods and reporting techniques which may include on-line reporting, face-to-face interviews or interviews by phone. ILGA-Europe will also support the publication of the report to be produced as a result of the project. At minimal, all projects should include the collection of data and the production of a report on the basis of the data collected.

Application forms shall include a description of the planned activities and of the chosen reporting methodology. Your proposals will be evaluated taking into account the capacity of your organisation to implement the project.

Information on the advocacy plans that your organisation intends to carry out on the basis of the produced report will be considered as an asset for your application. Organizations are also encouraged to demonstrate how this project will support the building of internal documentation skills in relation to the field of employment.

Information on your organisation’s plans to sustain in the long term the reporting and monitoring processes put in place thanks to the grant will be considered as an asset for your application.

Proposals will be accepted from LGBTI organisations officially registered with local authorities or unregistered initiative groups.

The selected applications should:

  • Provide a clear methodology and outline what the objectives, added-value and expected outcomes are;
  • Allow for the documentation of new evidence on LGBTI discriminatory practices in employment area;
  • Enhance data collection skills in the area of employment;
  • Possibly, provide an opportunity for joint work (peer-learning and/or coaching) between different civil society organisations.

The deadline for the XIV call for applications is 4 May 2015, 18.00 CET. Decisions by the Advisory Board on grants awarded will be communicated in early June.

Due to capacity and funding limitations NO applications outside Europe or submitted after the deadline will be accepted.

You can submit your application or ask any questions about the Fund to ILGA-Europe’s Programmes and Policy Officer Boris Balanetkii-Schlütter

 

ILGA-Europe looks forward to your applications and wishes you luck!